Fir our first tip we are going to give you a few pointers on working with on camera talent. Recently, we had a shoot that we had to work hard with someone that really did not want to be on camera. I don’t blame them one bit. That is why I choose to stay behind the lens. However, the shoot got me to thinking, “This type of situation probably happens more often than I think”, which ended up as the inspiration for this category.

Below are a 5 tips that I have found to be helpful when working with someone who is not comfortable with being on camera. Some work for all, but all of them do not work for some. Feel the talent out and decided which technique is best for the situation.

1. Meet Before the Shoot – Set up a meeting with the talent before the shoot to introduce yourself, go over content and ask if they have any questions. Having a brief conversation before sticking them in front of the lens can have a huge impact on their comfort level during the shoot.
2. Look Off Camera - One of the hardest things about an interview for the talent is walking to a piece of glass. Get the camera rolling, sit down in a chair next to the camera and have a conversation with them. When you get rolling in the interview, they will forget there is even a camera in the room.
3. Have Everything Set Up - before they arrive. Get your lights in place, seating arrangement figured out and camera setting adjusted. This will leave more time for you to talk to the talent about what they will be saying and will also allow you to give them your full attention.
4. Don’t Let Them See the Monitor - When a nervous people see themselves on TV or in a photo, they tend to get self conscious. Keep them more relaxed by not letting them see their image. Further support them by telling them they look good on camera.
5. Eliminate Extra Distractions - Keep unnecessary people off set,  the fewer people at the shoot the better. The more people you have wandering around and watching, the more nervous your talent will get.

Remember. In the end, your job is to capture a story that your talent is comfortable talking about. Help them be at ease by staying personable and attentive to their needs. Without them, you have no story, and no video to finish the piece.

Today Pixel Labs attended the Bar Camp Cedar Valley at the Innovation Incubator at UNI. The event was a huge success and it was a great way for us, and other start ups and small businesses, to network in the Cedar Valley. One of the most important things about starting up a new business, whether it is a creative business like ours or a retail store with a small store front downtown, is networking. Finding people who can help you make decisions, back you up on ideas or provide feedback on how you are doing is a great way to get your business going in the right direction.

At Bar Camp (which actually has nothing to do with drinking or camping) was the first time that I was able to actually experience the value of networking. In the four hours of the event, there were 18 different discussions or presentations on topics covering Creative, Technology and Entrepreneurship. out of the 7 that I attended, 3 stuck out significantly:

• Blogging 201: Tips and Tricks from a professional blogger – Cat Rocketship
• Networking in the Cedar Valley – Chad – Far Reach Technologies
• Building a Legacy: Brainstorming Session – Laura Scearce

Those are not in any particular order, except that they are the order that I saw them in.

In the Blogging 201 presentation, Cat demonstrated the value in effective blogging, something I do not claim this blog to be, but maybe someday. A couple of the things that I took from the presentation are that you can make money doing the things you love, also know as “The Perfect Job”, and also that having energy and passion about what you do makes that job that much more fun.

Networking in the Cedar Valley was more of a discussion topic about why there is a lack of professional networking in the Cedar Valley. With places like Des Moines showing how successful networking can be and how much it can help a new start up, you would think that here in the Cedar Valley we would be trying to follow in those footsteps.  Here in the Cedar Valley, we have the opportunities to network, it just seems as if we are not taking advantage of them. There are resources such as MyEntre.net and ConnectTheValley.com that provide information about the local networking opportunities. If you are a local start up looking to get your business off the ground, those would be great places to get started.

In the Brainstorming Session with Laura, I learned that even business ideas people know nothing about can make people put their heads together and help someone out on the venture. Just because someone knows what they want to do with their business does not mean that they know how to get there. When you get a group of professionals together, they can put all of their expertise together to help get them closer to that goal. It is important to make sure that as a start up, you take no suggestions for granted, and at least give all suggestions some kind of thought, even if it is just to make sure it is not the right suggestion for what you are trying to accomplish.

Well if you have made it this far, then I must not be doing too bad for my first post. Through the three presentations that stuck out to me, I am able to leave you with these last thoughts. If you don’t love your job, you are not where you should be. If you are working on an idea, remember, two or even ten heads are better than one. And most importantly, when networking, expect to get out of it the same as you put into it. If you go to a networking event and stand in the corner, that is what you will get. Get out there, talk to some people and make connections that will be mutually beneficial.

Below are some links to some content from the Bar Camp event:

1. Connect the Valley – www.ConnectTheValley.com
2. AAF Cedar Valley - www.aafcedarvalley.com
3. Silicon Prairie News - www.siliconprairienews.com
4. Far Reach Technologies - www.farreachinc.com
5. Cedar Valley Young Professionals - cedarvalleyyp.com

Now that we are getting every up and going, we have our twitter account set up and our Facebook page is live. Head over there and look us up, or do it the easy way and click on the links below:

If you follow us you will be kept up to date on what is going on in the Labs and what kind of projects we will be working on. For Media professionals, from time to time we will need some extra hands for shoots or projects. We will post freelance opportunities through those two sources, as well as here. If you are a professional and are interested in freelance work, send us your info and a link to your demo reel and we will take a look at it.

Thanks for reading and thanks for hanging in there while we are in this transition. We look forward to hearing any feedback and maybe even working with you in the future.

-Pixel Labs

In the mean time. If you have any suggestions for the site, shoot us a message and let us know, we are always open to suggestions.

Thanks for stopping by!

Businesses and potential clients who are looking for a production house to outsource to should be careful about hiring those people who think they are professionals because the have a nice camera and a gaming computer they can edit video on.

No One Is An Expert – http://pulse.me/s/210IT

We have some more projects in the works, but we will have to wait until later to give you the details on those. Hopefully we can tell you more soon.

“It’s not about breaking the rules. It is about abandoning the concept of rules altogether” - Paul Lemberg

Overall the shoot went very smooth with very few snags. We shot everything with the DSLRs and recorded all of the audio with two Zoom H4n recorders. Using the equipment that we did means we were able to quickly set up and tear down since.

After the performance we went out and shot some b-roll around the GBPAC. We will post a short clip later.

Editing has started on the video and we at planning to wrap this one up within a few weeks. When it is done we will post some clips from throughout the performance.

Till then,

Zach Everman